


Trial by fire

by Fawkespryde



Series: Grounds for Murder (Feast your eyes) [5]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF, Sideshow - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Minor Character Death, buck being a bad ass, darksideshow au, its time to show the new kid the ropes, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 08:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18688111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fawkespryde/pseuds/Fawkespryde
Summary: A couple of weeks after his sudden initiation into the Sideshow, Buck is dizzy from all the changes that are happening all around him. It's like a current has pulled him out deep in the ocean. Shayne had offered to show him the ropes but before he could toss Buck into the deep end, the gang decided that need a weapon first.Something to help fend off all the sharks in the water. Sounds like it's time for a trip to Zyke's place.





	Trial by fire

 

***

The outside of the house that Zyke pulled up to was nothing special. It was a simple two story home with old flaking painted fences and grass that was growing untamed on the front yard. Zyke clicked a button on his phone and the garage door started the process of opening, exposing the inside. There were garbage cans and recycling bins. All the staples of a regular home but Buck knew from the situation he was in that looks could be very deceiving.

Zyke’s house was across the street from a small strip mall that had been closed a few months ago due to how old it was so there wasn’t a lot of foot traffic passing by to acknowledge the large truck that may have seemed out of place. There was a sign in front of the property across from them stating that it had been bought and was going to be in construction in the next few months. New condos would be put in and the price of the neighbourhood would go up. The future buildings going up would become a looming presence over the small house with the tiny backyard. The small unimportant home that was definitely not housing one of the cities most influential hitmen.

Once in the garage, Zyke waited till the door automatically closed behind them before cutting the gas. He looked over at Buck who was sitting in the front passenger seat and gave him a grin. “Ready?”

“Depends, what does ready mean?”

Zyke didn’t say anything to that but seemed to find his paranoia amusing as he hopped out of his truck. He stood in front of the vehicle and watched Buck get out from his side, spinning his key ring on his finger as if he hadn’t a care in the world.

“Come on, let me show you around.” He pushed open the door leading from the garage into the hallway and wandered along till he reached the living room. Once there, he turned to look behind him and take in the look on Buck’s face once he caught up to him.

Buck occasionally hummed to himself as he took in the cream coloured walls and the clean state the place was in. Not that he assumed Zyke was a dirty person, far from it but to see the place that the hitman was living in first hand was quite an experience. The hallway was quaint and the walls were covered in obscure floral pictures that looked obscure but as his eyes drifted, he noticed one with a very familiar design. He wasn’t a professional by any means but he was sure he had seen this somewhere before.

He leaned forward to get a better look at it and was amazed at the sight of the various flicks of paint that made up the surface of a lake, the swirls of colours showing the refraction of light on its surface. Buck stepped into the doorway that Zyke had passed through and with a weak noise, pointed back at the painting on the wall. “Umm?”

Zyke glance over at him and walked back to see what he was curious about. Once he saw the painting, he lifted a hand to scratch at the back of his head sheepishly. “Oh that. Yeah, an ex got it for me when we were still dating. I’ve been holding onto for a long time cause, well, where else am I going to be able to pawn off a genuine Monet painting without getting arrested.”

“Wait, this is real?” Buck looked back and forth between the painting and Zyke, who shrugged like it was an everyday occurance, having such an expensive one-of-a-kind piece of art in his temporarily living space. His head reeled at the thought and he narrowed his eyes to try and pick out any others lining the hallway.

Zyke shrugged again and stepped in front of the picture, looking up at it with a crease in his brow. He had a distant look in his eyes like he wasn’t quite all there, like nostalgia had swept over him. “Yeah. The others are just stuff I picked up here and there over the years. Hell, some of them are from garage sales and stuff.”

“I was never a big procurer of art but… this one always captivated me, especially when I saw it for the first time in person.” He lifted a hand as if to touch the Monet but his fingers hovered over an inch above the surface before Zyke seemed to catch himself. He noticed Buck’s stare and lifted his hand up to cover his mouth and he coughed into his fist like that had been his plan the whole time. “Anyways, let’s not get too distracted though. We’re here for you not me.”

Buck nodded numbly and said nothing as he was led by a hand on his shoulder from the hallway and into the living room. He glanced over his shoulder once last time before he crossed the threshold into the next room. It was shocking how different the main hall looked in comparison to where they were standing now. The entrance way had been painted and decorated to look homely and well lived in. It was warm and welcoming where as the living room wasn’t as much. In fact, the entire area looked like it had been converted into a makeshift computing station.

There were cords on the floor, tangled and going every which way. Some were taped down to prevent tripping and others led into small holes cut strategically into the ceiling and floor. The entire house must be wired from the looks of things, but for what purpose, Buck had no idea but he could see that many of the various coloured wires led back to a corner where a few computers were set up. There were several monitors flicking back and forth between various security feeds and a satellite map of the city.

Buck caught sight of numerous locations sending out waves of lines that gave off some sort of signal before it flicked back to the camera views. The screen each had six views split evenly and the red numbers above each one seemed to associate with a dot that had been on the map. Were those other locations that Sideshow owned? If so, why was he allowed to see such things when he was just a fresh addition to the gang.

He looked over at Zyke who had stepped over to one of the other computers and was leaned over to type something. His position gave him a view of the bowie knife that was affixed to the back of his belt. It was usually hidden under his shirt but now it could be seen clear as day, holstered but unbuttoned so it could be drawn in a flash. Buck swallowed heavily. That’s right, he was sitting in a room with one of the cities most renowned hitmen. If he even though about betraying them, he had no doubt in his mind that the man would cut him head to toes without a second thought.

“Damn, I need to get Tomato down here sometime to update my os. I swear it keeps getting slower every day.” Zyke scratched the back of his head and continued to type one handedly till the computer had a happy little chirp and all the screens flashed before returning to their set priorities. He stood up once he was sure everything was good and stretched.

“Sorry about that, had to turn the silent alarm off.” He smirked and patted Buck on the shoulder as he passed by him again to walk into the hallway. He made a gesture for him to follow along and wandered deeper into the safehouse, murmuring to himself as he went. “Criken is going to give me an ear full later on for letting it go off as long as I did.”

“So, this house is under constant surveillance?” Buck inquired as he caught up to Zyke and glanced around to see if he could spot anymore wires. But it looks like they must be lined inside the wall. He couldn’t see anything out of place once out in the perfect looking hallway.

“Not entirely. This is just a location that I use occasionally for storage and what not. It’s only recently that Tomato converted it to a secondary surveillance base of operations.” Zyke hummed and pressed a finger to his chin, glancing over at Buck with an amused quirk of his brow. “Aside from me having to log in to shut off the silent alarm, the whole thing is controlled from a different location.”

Buck’s eyes went wide in amazement. “Wait, so Tomato..?”

“Controls the whole system from a different location? Yeah, he tends to spread out his tech across the city to make it difficult to track.” At Buck’s expression, Zyke let out a laugh and pulled him close, throwing an arm over his shoulder. “You think that’s crazy? You should see Criken's set up. I hear that his is so deeply integrated with the city that it’s like a spider web.”

Zyke let go of Buck as quickly as he had grabbed him in order to lead him to the first bedroom door. He pushed it open with a palm, the door gliding open without needing a turn of the handle. It must be missing its inside components if it wasn’t locked, Buck contemplated to himself at the sight.

“Although, that’s only what I’ve heard. I don’t think anyone in Sideshow has actually seen it with their own eyes.” He grinned and turned on his heel to face the other standing in the door. Crossing his legs at the ankle, Zyke made a sweeping gesture to all the various shelves with his hand.

“Well? Don’t be shy, go ahead and pick.”

Every wall of the room was covered in black plastic and the sight was off putting but only for a moment as his gaze was immediately drawn from the walls to the various metal shelving units that were set up in rows in the centre. The metal shelves had grated doors and through them, he could see dozens of rifles lined up within. There were so many guns, he could only assume Zyke was preparing for a war of some kind. There was no reason for a man, even with his job, to have as many as he did.

Buck stood there with his mouth hanging agap. It took several seconds of glancing around the various weapons for him to realize that he was being talked to. He looked over at Zyke and felt overwhelmed, not knowing what to say or do. “What do you mean go pick one? You do know that I hadn’t handled a weapon before that attack at the park, right?”

Pulling a semi-automatic off a nearby wall rack, Zyke shifted it casually in his grip. He expelled the magazine and checked the ammo before popping it back into place with a click. The bolt slid back easy with a tug and it made a heavy noise at the gesture. “No time like the present I always say.”

“I don’t even know where to begin... “ Buck walked fully into the converted bedroom and spun around a few times. He got dizzy at the movement and stumbled a step before glancing back over at the hitman’s amused smile. “I really have no idea. What do you recommend to start with?”

Zyke clapped his hands and rubbed them together with a gleeful expression. “I was wondering when you’d ask.” He placed the gun in his hands back on the shelf before waving for Buck to follow him deeper into the safehouse. “Come, I think I have something you might like in the other room.”

He exited that bedroom and walked to the end of the hall, taking the furthest door on the right He poked his head out ot make sure Buck was following before he entered another small room that looked like it used to be a bedroom but had been converted into more storage for Zyke’s weaponry. Just like the other room, all of the walls and windows were completely covered in a black sheet of plastic to keep any form the sunlight from shining through. On top of the plastic covering, there were square pieces of soundproofing foam glued to it from top to bottom.

The room should have been stifling hot because of the covered windows and lack of air flow but there were a bunch of air coolers in strategic places that made the bedroom feel more like a freezer than anything else. Buck could feel how cold it was from the hallway and shivered, rubbing his bare forearms as he glanced into the room.

There were several weapon crates of varying sizes stacked up on each other in various piles around the room. Some were small enough to look like briefcases while others appeared like they had been stolen from military compounds. The latches on the front had been snapped clean off and batch numbers that were once spray painted on the sides were scratched over and redacted by another line of paint.

Zyke made a noise and crouched before several small boxes stacked on top of each other. He was eyeing the tiny labels marked on each one, making ticking noises with his tongue till he found what he was looking for. “Ah, here we go.” He moved the other crates to get at the one hidden at the very bottom but paused in his movement to glance over his shoulder. He tilted his head at Buck who was still hesistant to come into the room.

“What?”

Buck continued to rub his forearms and shrugged nervously. He glanced around the bedroom, paying close attention to the way the walls were wrapped in plastic. “Nothing, it’s just..”

Zyke smirked as if already knowing what he was going to comment on. “You can say it.”

“This looks like a psychopath’s basement.” Buck shuffled his feet nervously. “Seriously, why does it look you spend time chopping up bodies in here?”

“You know, you’re not the first person to comment on that.” Zyke burst out into laughter and wiped away imaginary tears with the back of his hand. “Then people go to see Charborg’s place and suddenly realize that I’m the sane one of the bunch.”

Buck tilted his head to the side, not knowing what to say to that. “I… uh, sure.” He looked around the room and finally glanced down at the box that Zyke had pulled free from the pile. “What’s with the plastic anyways?”

“The foam is to cancel out any noises.” Zyke lifted the box and rested it on top of the others, flicking the latches open with his thumbs. “The plastic under that keeps the heat contained in the room and makes scanning my place using thermal imagery a living hell. There’s an aluminum foil lining under that acts like the plastic but for metal.”

Buck let out a low whistle. He didn’t understand a lot of what Zyke had just said but it sounded like he had prepared his safehouse for any sort of situation. “Is all of that really necessary?”

“I have over 349 guns in this safehouse alone. When it comes to my stashes, I can’t take any chances.” Zyke opened up the small weapon crate and turned to face Buck. He had a pistol in one hand and a clip of ammo in the other. “Especially after everything that had happened to Strippin’ and his boys.”

Buck approached the hitman and looked down at the gun with the curiosity of a child being handed a baby for the first time.

“This is a Beretta 92. It’s small but packs quite a punch.” Zyke made a show of slowly sliding the ammo clip into the gun and popping it into the place with the palm of his hand. Once loaded, he indicated to the safety before grabbing the gun by the barrel and offered the handle to Buck. “Safety is on so don’t worry. It won’t go off by accident.”

Buck took the gun and sputtered at how heavy it was in his hands. He glanced down at the Beretta in trepidation and twisted it this way and that to get a good look at the sides and the the front. “This is… a lot heavier than I thought it would be.”

“That’s what everyone says the first time. It isn’t what it’s like in the movies, I'll tell you that.” Zyke laughed, passing by Buck to leave the room. “If you want to take it out for a test spin, I have a range in the basement.”

“Should I even ask how you managed to hide an entire firing range underneath your house?” Buck inquired with a quirk of his brow. He followed after Zyke, holding the gun in both hands like he was afraid of dropping it. A part of his mind couldn't even begin to comprehend how expensive that single gun must be. Definitely more than he'd see in a lifetime.

Throwing a cheeky grin over his shoulder, Zyke led him down the hallway to a closed door that had a digital padlock on the front. “Don’t ask, don’t tell is what I always say.” He hummed a little tune to himself as he typed in the code and once it unlocked with a buzz, held the door open for Buck.

Buck walked in and eyeballed the stairs leading down into the basement nervously. It was dark down there and he could barely see past three steps in front of him. If Zyke planned on killing him, this was the prime opportunity to get away with it.

“Light switch is to your left.”

True to Zyke’s words, there was a switch covered in glow in the dark paint that barely stood out against the unfinished plastic walls. Buck reached forward and flicked it one handedly while keeping the gun tucked under his other arm. “You sure you’re not going to murder me down here?”

There was a heavy buzz over his head as the old tubes of lights overhead slowly heated up and began to fade the darkness out as they brightened. The fluorescent bulbs took a few more seconds to warm up before the basement was bathed in sterile while light. The room was revealed before him and surprisingly, it didn’t contain anything crazy like he assumed a killers basement would look like.

It just looked unfinished, like someone had forgotten to put the drywall over the fibreglass and the wooden beams that supported the first floor were open and exposed. There was a large portion that looked like it had been excavated in the direction of the backyard, expanding a long lane with paper targets at the end. There was a shovel next to the expanded area and Buck glanced between that and Zyke.

The hitman sighed at the nervous look he received as he walked down the steps right behind him. “You know, I’m happy that you’re willing to entertain the idea of joining Sideshow and put up with all our crazy antics but you have got to tone down on that paranoia. Seriously, you’re going to worry yourself into an early grave, my man.”

Buck nodded with a heavy swallow. “I’m sorry. It’s just really hard to get used to all this change. To think, a few weeks ago I was working a dead end job and just barely making ends meet.”

“And now you have an opportunity to prove..” Zyke paused and tilted his head to the side. Buck was just about to ask what was wrong but he silenced him with a finger pressed to his lips.

There were noises above them as the the front door was forced open, metal clattering onto the ground as the handle must have torn off. The sound of heavy boots resounded above their heads and were casually moving around without a care in the world. Zyke was gritting his teeth and grabbed Buck by the shoulder. “Stay here. Don’t do anything foolish.”

Buck held the gun to his chest and just nodded, not knowing what was going on and too nervous to argue with Zyke. The hitman could be scary when he wanted to and the dark look he had given him left him no room to argue. He was engulfed in darkness once more as Zyke shut the lights off and took the steps up, expertly avoiding any creaking as he made his way up.

The door was opened and Buck could hear voices coming from the first floor. He strained his ears to try and figure out where they were in the house and from the sounds of things, they were in the living room.

“Yo, what the fuck is with all the wires?”

“Who the fuck cares. Just grab everything you can. We can pawn off what we can’t use later.”

There was the creaking of footsteps and the first voice was just responding with a cackle when the voice cut off with a wet gurgle. That was followed by a heavy thud as they collapsed to the ground.

“What the fuck?! I thought you said this place was abandoned?”

“Shut the fuck up and shoot him!”

“There he is! Hey, put your hands up asshole!!”

Footsteps trampled over the wood above his head and Buck glanced over the stair railing to see into the bright hallway. Standing a few feet in front of him was Zyke, front stained in red and hand clenched around his blade. He had just managed to dash back from the living room after killing one of the men but was caught by one of the gunman before he could get behind the wall.

Zyke rose his hands up in surrender and at the gunman’s shouting, allowed the knife to clatter to the ground. He was still, like a predator ready to strike but Buck wasn’t sure the other man would even give him a chance to close the distance.

Buck could hear the footsteps further in the house, right where the living room was above him and he looked up to feel dust fall on him from the shuffling. He fiddled with the gun in his hand and took a deep breath, nervous sweat beading at his brow from the heaviness of the metal. His finger curled around the trigger and he aimed it above his head, praying to hell that all his years spent watching shitty action movies would pay up in dividends.

The trigger didn’t move though and Buck flushed red as he realized what Zyke had told him earlier. The safety was on. How did he turn it off? He moved his other hand blindly over the side of the Beretta till he found a little switch on the side. It made a click as he fingered it and the trigger felt loose in his grip again.

“Well, that was easy..” He murmured, raising the gun again. His voice trailed off into a little yelp as he shot up through the ceiling and into the living room. The shot was much louder than he thought it would be and he had to brace both hands around the gun to try and level his aim. He heard a pained noise from the shot. “Fuck… fuck… fuck…”

Buck kept pulling the trigger and didn’t even think to count the shots that he fired. He swayed his shots around, guessing where the men above where and kept firing until he heard another pained grunt and the swift foot fall of someone running headfirst into the living room.

“You come into my house!” Zyke shouted and there was a thud as two bodies impacted each other.

The sound of struggling had Buck panicking and taking the stairs two at a time. He came around the bend and glanced into the room to see Zyke come out on top of the fight and bring his bowie knife down through the other man’s head, the blade going through the exposed opening of his mouth. He drove the blade in so deep it almost had the dead man pinned to the floor.

Buck came into the room and glanced around at the other two bodies scattered around. One looked like he had been given a new smile several inches below his chin. The ground around the body was stained in red and slowly growing as the seconds ticked by. The other body had several bullet sized wounds from where Buck had fired up from the basement.

He had done that, without hesitation either. Before when he had saved Bed, the man had told him it was the survival of the fittest and it was necessary. It had been a kill or be killed scenario back then. But this time felt less like that and more like he just… wanted to.

“Shit, that thing you did under the floorboards was excellent.” Zyke complimented and stood up, giving Buck a friendly pat on the shoulder. “Quick thinking. Wish I had of thought of that myself.”

Buck let out the breath he didn’t know he had been holding and flushed red at his compliment. He beamed at Zyke. “Thank you…”

“This is going to be hell to clean up though. I need to call Criken, update him on the situation.” Zyke withdrew his phone and pulled it out before his eyebrows furrowed. “This one isn’t mine. Oh that’s right, I was holding onto this till graduation.”

“Graduation?”

“Yeah, after teaching you the ropes. I was going to give you this.” Zyke held up the phone and offered it to Buck, who took it with a confused expression. “I didn’t get to put all the contacts in there for you but Criken’s number is in there so that’s a good start.”

Buck almost teared up and ran a thumb over the phone. It was in a gorgeous black case that had a flap that covered over it. He opened the case with a flip of his wrist to reveal two cards stuffed into it. There was a photo id with his face but the name was not one he recognized and there was a bank card with the same name. “This is… for me?”

“Shayne set up the account for you but the funds inside are all yours. The phone is also paid up for two months while you get yourself situated in the group. After that, you can change the plan, the phone, etcetera etcetera.” Zyke made a wave with his hand as he spoke and retrieved his phone, scrolling through his contacts. “Consider it an investment, my man. Not many of us get that nice of a start.”

Zyke wandered away and began talking on his phone as he stepped in front of the computer. “Hey, yeah. It’s me. Is Charborg good for a pick up? I got a mess here that needs cleaning.”

Buck noticed a pistol on the ground and picked it up, eyeballing it nervously. It looked scratched up to hell and the handle was sticky with sweat. He made a face and held it between two fingers. He was debating on a location to put it in case Zyke wanted to keep it for some reason.

“Yeah, I need a pick up for one, two, three guys.” Zyke did a full circle to count out the bodies in the living room. Just as he was talking, another man walked through the front door with a shotgun in his hands.

“Alright guys, did you clear everything out?”

Buck didn’t even hesitate this time and he took the gun full into his hand, the safety was already clicked off and he fired a few times at the man. The shotgun wielding thief didn’t even seem to notice them as he walked in and was gunned down immediately.

“Never mind.” Zyke glanced over to see the dead body before he rose a brow at Buck. He pointed towards the hallway and indicated with a wave for him to shut the door. “Make that four.”

Buck was breathing heavily and walked over to see if anyone else was coming. He didn’t see anyone else but there was a four door van parked on the street in front of the house. It must have been the vehicle that the men had arrived in. Interestingly, despite the numerous shots that had rang out. There were no police sirens in the distance. He had no idea if that was just cause of the neighbourhood of if it had something to do with Sideshow.

He closed the door and was just about to walk back in when the phone in his pocket began to vibrate. There was no name that popped up but seeing that it was in his contact list, he could only assume who was calling him.

“Hello?”

“Buck, I hear things have gotten quite messy over there.” Criken’s voice was the same monotonous tone he always heard but there was a little lilt that brought a curious twitch to his brow. “I sent you over there with Zyke to get a bit more hands on experience. I wasn’t expecting people to come over there and cause a stir.”

“It’s not a problem. Really, we took care of everything.”

Criken let out a huff of breath that could be mistaken for a laugh. “I hear. You really took the initiative and dove right in.”

Buck didn’t know what to say to that and just stood there, hand holding the phone to his red ear. He shuffled his feet nervously on the spot and looked back inside the house, trying to look less timid.

“Good job.” Criken finished and with a click, the line went dead.

Those simple words brought warmth to his face and he pulled the phone to his chest, a silly little smile on his face. He didn’t know the man very well and knew every day spent with Sideshow was putting him more and more at risk but slowly, he was finding himself not caring about that. He had been working in a dead end job for so long, doing something different, no matter how illegal was finally the freedom that he had been seeking for year. It was the breath of fresh air he had been looking for and meeting people who he felt so kindred towards was a nice change of pace.

Buck clenched the phone to his chest and squeezed it, nodding in determination. He was going to prove his worth to the group. Today was the first step but it was far from the last. He’ll make them all proud, Buck swore with a bright, hopeful look in his eyes.

“Just you wait.”

***

**Author's Note:**

> Slowly but surely Buck is growing and coming out of his shell. No longer will he be that nervous kid that Bed found on the street, about to be stolen away by Outlander. 
> 
> He'll learn and evolve and soon, become a threat to those who thought he was an easy target before. Look out world, here he comes.


End file.
